Amazon can't beat our Halloween mix-and-match creativity: Party City CEO by Elizabeth Gurdus at CNBC. "(CEO Harrison) said that where the chain goes beyond Amazon is in the opportunities consumers have at Party City to buy separate costume pieces and put them together more creatively, rather than simply ordering something preset online. "We take something thematically and really blow it out with multiple options," Harrison said." See the video / Read more   Sales at Lumber Liquidators grew for the first time in 6 quarters at Reuters. "Same-store sales rose 1 percent for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, [...]

  Walmart tests a giant tower that acts like a vending machine for online orders by Hayley Peterson at Business Insider. "When a customer orders something online for in-store pickup, the customer gets an order number. When the person arrives at the tower, he or she enters the order number into the machine. Then the machine spits out the customer's package the way a vending machine can do with a bottle of Coke." Read more   Amazon Third Quarter Sales up 29% to $32.7 Billion Press release   ...Amazon shares tumble as rising expenses weigh on online retailer by Hannah [...]

  Walmart Will Deploy Thousands of 'Holiday Helpers' to Shorten Checkout Wait Times by Phil Wahba at Fortune. "Walmart is deploying “Holiday Helpers” to all of its 4,500 or so U.S. stores during the upcoming months. These workers, clad in yellow vests to make them easily identifiable to customers, will be tasked with speeding up checkout time by, among other things, fetching items that shoppers may have forgotten, so they don’t lose their places in line; helping to unload shopping baskets at the registers; and if it’s very busy, opening a cash register." Read more   ...Wal-Mart is bringing in [...]

  Canada: Shoppers Drug Mart formally applies to distribute marijuana, but there will have to be rule change first by Claire Brownwell at Financial Post. "The company plans only to distribute it, not grow it...If Shoppers’ application is successful, it would require changing medical marijuana policies to allow pharmacists to fill prescriptions in person in retail stores. Currently, medical marijuana can only be legally distributed through the mail." Read more   Target increasing holiday broadcast ad spending by 21 percent by Kavita Kumar at Star Tribune. "Target will roll out a series of promotions in mid-November that each week offer [...]

  Target Recalls Over 120,000 Halloween Window Decorations by Madeline Farber at Fortune. "Luckily, Target has not received any reports of injuries or choking incidents." Read more   Video: Jeff Bezos shares big ideas, from Amazon’s drone landing pads to a 10,000-year clock by Alan Boyle at Geek Wire. "When the robotic aircraft go into operation, they’ll be able to fly at speeds of more than 50 mph with a 20-mile range. The system is designed to deliver packages weighing less than 5 pounds, a weight range that Amazon says covers 86 percent of the products it sells. “It’s going to work really [...]

  Walgreens adds in-store pickup service by Lauren Zumbach at Chicago Tribune. Walgreens now lets customers shop online and pick up orders at more than 7,600 of its stores. Read more   Bloomberg: Wal-Mart plans to crack Chinese market by delivering within hours. Read more    Target ranked No. 1 in corporate solar energy capacity by Mike Hughlett at Star Tribune. ...adding more solar this year than any other U.S. retailer, according to report out Wednesday. Read more   Any business on Facebook can now sell goods right from its Page by Jason Del Rey at Recode. Facebook had been testing the capability [...]

  Kroger slowly backing away from Walgreens-Rite Aid merger by Josh Kosman at NY Post. "Kroger is close to passing on acquiring the 650 stores that Walgreens and Rite Aid would have to sell to gain regulatory approval of their $17 billion merger, sources said...Kroger may decide not to buy because Obama’s Federal Trade Commission — already a year into its merger review — recently told the supermarket owner that the 650 stores couldn’t be purchased and closed, with the operations moved inside the grocery stores, two sources close to the situation said." Read more   Retired Walmart and Sam's [...]

  Amazon is putting veteran leaders in charge of its big grocery delivery plans by Jason Del Rey at Recode. "Earlier this year, longtime Amazonian Ben Hartman was chosen to run Amazon Fresh, Recode has learned. Hartman was most recently the technical adviser or “shadow” to Jeff Wilke...Amazon lifer Steve Kessel, a member of Bezos’s leadership team, is also involved in the planning for Amazon grocery store experiments, two sources told Recode." Read more   In a Wal-Mart First, the CEO Turns Pitchman by Sarah Nassauer at Wall Street Journal. "Google searches for ‘Wal-Mart CEO salary,’ spiked during the summer [...]